N° 54 : The prophecies within the secret

Newsletter n°54 (28 June 2017)

Dear friends,

There is a criticism regularly made concerning the secret of Fatima. Because the secret was only written down in 1941, Sister Lucia is often accused of having made prophecies post eventum (after the event), particularly concerning the blazing sky during the night of the 25th to the 26th of January 1938. If it is true that Sister Lucia dreamed up a prophecy of Our Lady after this night, then the whole message of Fatima would be concerned and its truth seriously questioned. Sister Lucia would then be a liar, or at best, a storyteller. Moreover, it is very important to have the assurance that she did not make up this secret, and that it really is Our Lady who communicated it to her in 1917. If this is not the case, the whole devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary as it is represented in the message and Sister Lucia’s writings would be an invention by Sister Lucia which should be rejected.

It is true that those who knew Sister Lucia well have always insisted that honesty was one of her principal qualities. At the time of the apparitions, Lucia’s mother, convinced that her daughter was lying, used all means possible to make her go back on her affirmations. But Lucia never retracted. Even when Villa Nova de Ourem’s administrator threatened to throw her in a pot of boiling oil she did not refute her declarations. This attitude, from a little ten year old girl, shows an essential honesty which is rare. Why, after having been faithful to the truth to the point of risking her life, would she then invent a message without any outside pressure on her to do so?

But if Sister Lucia has really told the truth, why would Heaven have instructed her to reveal certain elements only after their realisation, at the risk of damaging the credibility of what she had said elsewhere? Indeed, the miracle of the sun on the 13th of October was announced three months before it happened, thereby showing the indubitably prophetic character of the little seer’s words. Why should it then not be the same for the blazing sky in the night of the 25th to the 26th of January 1938? The reply can be found in an interview with Father Jongen from February 1945. The Father asked her: “It’s a shame that the secret was not made public before the war. The prediction would thereby have had more value. Why did you not make it known earlier?” “Because no-one asked me to” she replied.

In fact, God wanted that the diffusion of the secret and the accomplishment of its requests be subject to the decision of the seer’s hierarchic superiors. God wants to save the world by the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, but He also wants it to be solemnly established by the pastors of His Church, using the authority they hold through Him. He wants that these extraordinary interventions should be subjected to the decisions of the hierarchic authorities instituted by Him to lead his Church. Unfortunately, these authorities did not want to know about these divine intentions.

There are many clues that the secret could have been revealed before 1938. Here are a few. Following a request from her confessor or her bishop, every time Lucia asked Heaven to authorise the revelation of all or part of the secret, the response was always positive.

The first point of the secret to have been revealed was the devotion of the first Saturdays of the month. The canonical enquiry opened on the 3rd of May 1922, less than two years after the nomination of Mgr. da Silva to head the diocese of Leiria and Fatima. Lucia made her official deposition before the commission of enquiry on the 8th of July 1924. But she gave away nothing of the secret and the commission did not try to find out what it was. Less than two years later, on the 10th of December 1925, the Holy Virgin asked her to make known the communion of reparation of the first Saturdays of the month. Sister Lucia immediately reported all this to her confessor and to her superior, who informed Mgr. da Silva. But the commission of enquiry did not pursue the connection with the apparitions. Time passed, the Church authorities had still not asked to know the secret, so in 1929 Heaven again intervened and revealed that the time had come for the Holy Father to consecrate Russia. Thus, two essential points of the secret could be revealed. The occasion of the canonical enquiry was a particularly favourable time for this revelation. Unfortunately, the commission of enquiry did not ask for details. One year later, it submitted its conclusions. On the 13th of October 1930, Mgr. da Silva recognised the authenticity of the apparitions, but without the commission of enquiry having really sought to know the secret. What a shame that Mgr. da Silva had not insisted on knowing a little more!

Several more years had to pass before Mgr. da Silva asked Sister Lucia what the secret contained. He finally did this in 1941. When he read the third memoir, written in August 1941, he must have made the connection with the night of the 25th of January 1938; but, he did not seek to know why Sister Lucia had not revealed it earlier if Our Lady had really announced it to her in 1917. Worse than this, it was another two years before he asked Lucia to confide to him the third point of the secret, which had not yet been revealed. Sister Lucia did this in writing in January 1944, and, the following month of June, it was handed over to Mgr. da Silva in a sealed envelope. But the Bishop did not want to open the envelope and so he put it in his safe. He tried to get rid of it by sending it to Rome, but the Vatican refused to receive it. Lucia then informed Mgr. da Silva that it was imperative that the secret be revealed at her death, or in 1960, whichever came first, but stipulating that he could read it and diffuse it immediately if he so wished. But Mgr. da Silva was adamant that he did not, and the envelope containing the secret stayed in his safe.

About ten years later, in 1956, the Church was not, therefore, in a hurry to know the secret, either the first two parts or the third part. Moreover, Our Lady had performed an absolutely exceptional miracle to authenticate it. Also, we can’t hold it against Sister Lucia for only having revealed it in 1941. She would surely have been willing to do so earlier if her superiors had formally asked her. If Mgr. da Silva was so late in taking the decision to ask her, then Sister Lucia cannot be blamed for it. This is why she explained to Father Jongen that if she had not revealed the secret earlier it was “because no-one had asked her for it.”

In union of prayer in the Immaculae Heart of Mary.Yves de Lassus.

The consecration of Russia

The association Cap Fatima 2017 proposes sending a letter to Cardinal Burke to show our support for his initiative (see the proposed letter HERE). We suggest you join this initiative. To do this, please register on the Consecration of Russia page on this website. (To go to the petition form, click HERE). You can, if you think it would help, let us have any remarks which would improve this letter. It is planned to hand the letter to Cardinal Burke at the end of August, when he is due to attend the Summer University of Sainte Baume.